SHARED SILICON TECHNOLOGY.

The IC manufacturing industry is facing an increasing number of requests for establishing the capability to produce multiproduct wafers. This capability, also known as shared silicon technology, allows the parallel processing of several devices on the same wafer. the advantages are major cost savings - due to reduced mask and wafer fabrication costs - and lower risks of redesign through the study of various design options. The multi product wafer service is a low cost alternative for research and development projects, prototyping and low volume chip production. The technique is especially effective in the field of Programmable Logic Array and Gate Array production where already prefabricated base wafers can be personalized e. g. , interconnected using multiple die masks. The author explains how to accommodate a smooth processing operation for implementation of multi-product wafers.